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One of the central themes of this week's Parsha is the Moadim. When we look carefully we see that the Torah places a tremendous emphasis on the Moadim – it repeats with various changes the concept of the holidays multiple times throughout the Torah.

Why are the Holidays so important to the basic core beliefs of Judaism?

On the simplest level they are days that recount our history and if done well pass on that history to the next generation. As opposed to some countries where the national holidays have lost meaning – within traditional Judaism they have a lot more content then cheese cake and flat “bread”.

On a deeper level they supply us with inspiration throughout the year. Every month has a different “flavor” and a different mode that connects to different personalities with the Klal to help them strive and rise to a new heights of spirituality. Just take a look at the time period we are in – although Sefira has taken a sad more mournful feel the holidays within the time period make us aspire to do more and be more.

But there is another level of meaning within the celebration of the Moadim. The Holidays are important even without their inspiration and without their specific content – they give us a sense of the importance of time and even more the mastery of time. The Moadim are in our “control” we create them, we are the Mikadesh of the zmanim! Only someone who is truly free – a non slave can control his or her time. Only one who has the Tzelem Elokim, the creative aspect given by G-d can take time and create it into something more than minutes and hours. And therefore the Moadim give us a glimpse into who we are and what we are able to do – we are free to create and have the power to do so. Sadly we often see the opposite where being free means the ability to waste our time – to miss the opportunity given to us.

We are currently in the time period between Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron/ Yom Haatzmaut. These are sad, reflective days when we stop to focus on those we have lost in order to inspire us to infuse our lives with more meaning and purpose. It is also the time of counting time, sefirat haomer, where every day seems to remind us of the special power of time. May we be inspired to use our time correctly and not only mekadesh the moadim but every minute of every day.